Although health professionals recommend that an individual should derive only about 30% or less of their caloric intake from fat, Americans' attraction to fried foods continues. One indication of the undying popularity of fried foods is their persistence on restaurant menus across the country. Culinary professionals do try to prepare fried foods as healthfully as possible, typically using vegetable, canola, or peanut oil. Additionally, many restaurants now supplement their menus with such items as flash-fried seafood or vegetables lightly dusted with flavorful coatings, which are perceived to be more healthful than battered and breaded items which absorb fat.
Statistics from a recent National Restaurant Association survey support the trend away from fried food. Sixty-nine percent of restaurant patrons said they strongly preferred broiled items to fried menu items, up from 52% who expressed this attitude in the mid-1980s. Four out of ten restaurant patrons strongly agreed with the statement that "fried foods are bad for you." For every consumer favoring deep-fried seafood and poultry menu items, twice as many said they would like to try these items broiled or grilled. Even so, a recent survey indicates that interest in nutrition has peaked, and fried foods are regaining their popularity.
Fried items are not likely to disappear from restaurant menus in the near future, because patrons find their taste appealing. Furthermore, fried foods are not typically prepared in the home as it is difficult to duplicate the taste and texture of fried foods in home kitchens. To date, the frozen breaded foods available in grocery stores have not provided a viable alternative to fresh fried items, since they are not comparable in quality to their restaurant counterparts.
In an attempt to address this need, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,707, issued to Chalupa et al., claims the use of a batter comprising water, flour, dextrose, non-fat milk solids, sodium salt, calcium salt and gellan gum to coat a food product (such as chicken, fish, cheese, or vegetables) and baking the product to produce a food product disclosed to have a fried texture. The patent also claims a process for preparing coated baked dough food which comprises coating a baked dough food with a solution comprising water, gellan gum, calcium salt and sodium salt and drying the coated baked dough food. This claim is exemplified by Examples 3 and 4 which describe the preparation of bread crumbs which may subsequently be used as a coating to "enhance crispness and reduce the oil absorption of fried foods. Specifically, Example 3 discloses the incorporation of a gellan gum into a bread dough recipe and the formation of bread crumbs from the resulting baked loaf of bread. Example 4 discloses that the desired bread crumbs may be obtained by coating bread crumbs with a gellan gum solution and then drying the crumbs.
Thus, there is a need to provide a healthful alternative method of producing foods with the organoleptic qualities imparted by frying.